We’ve talked about Office Groups before, but I hope this post will be a useful refresher. Office Groups in Microsoft Office 365 behave a bit like team sites in SharePoint – so if you’re a regular SharePoint user, it won’t take you long to get going with Groups.
If you aren’t familiar, however, here are some of the basics to help you get to know Office Groups.
What Are Office Groups?
At its core, an Office Group is an online space where a team of people can send each other emails, engage in conversations, collaborate, share documents in a common library, and access a central calendar and shared OneNote notebook. Think of it as an online meeting room. This is where you’ll come together to discuss what every member of the team is doing and review the products of your work.
How to Use Office Groups
Unlike team sites, Office Groups run on the Exchange service, which means you access them through Outlook. To set up an Office Group or access an existing group, open Outlook and look for “Groups” in the column on the left. From here, you can access Groups that you already belong to or start a new Group. When you access an Office Group, you’ll see an interface that’s very similar to a SharePoint team site landing page. This interface shows discussions, links to shared files, links to calendars and your OneNote shared notebook.
Why I Like Office Groups
Office Groups provide a streamlined, seamless experience. Personally, I love the fact that Groups run through the Exchange service, so I can access all the content through Outlook, which is where I automatically go when I want to communicate with colleagues. Moving discussions out of SharePoint and moving them to the Outlook email software that we already use completely changes the dynamic to be more in line with how I work. Also, the Group calendar automatically integrates with my Outlook calendar, so I’m always aware of important dates relating to the project.
Another great feature of Office Groups is the OneNote notebook. This is where I jot down all my notes from meetings, incorporating articles and folders where they can help to illustrate and organize the stream of consciousness. These notes are automatically shared with my collaborators, without sharing my desktop OneNote notebook.
I love how Office Groups gives me the ability to share content with my collaborators in a shared space. It’s almost like building a library together. Users of Office Groups enjoy the same document management capabilities of SharePoint, but in a much more convenient environment.
Disadvantages of Office Groups
Obviously there is a lot to love about Office Groups, but, as with anything, it’s not without its challenges.
Office Groups are very easy to create, but that benefit can raise problems of its own. When anyone can start a group, how can you control how many groups the team creates? What happens if the number of groups spirals out of control?
Avoid this problem by talking to your team about how to use Office Groups effectively before you start working on a project.
When to Use Office Groups
Office Groups are easier to use than SharePoint team sites, so I like to use them as a replacement for team sites in some situations.
For example, Office Groups are ideal for small groups of between two and eight people, particularly when you have a clear goal and fixed end date in mind. If you have a larger department working on a series of long-term goals with revolving deadlines, then team sites might be a better solution.
Final Thought
To be blunt, I’m excited about using Office Groups. They’re easy to use and the OneNote notebook is a particularly great feature, as it’s so simple to share it with others. So take some time to figure out whether or not it’s the best solution to meet your needs. Like I said, it’s not for everyone. But in the right situation, it can be a powerful collaboration platform.
